


The Study of Special Drink

by fruit_loops



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Angst, Crushes, Dorks in Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Love, Love Confessions, Love at First Sight, M/M, Self-Indulgent, coffee shop!abed, coffee shop!troy, did i mention dorks in love?, this is like a legitimate coffee shop au?, we need more britta appreciation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:28:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27772285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fruit_loops/pseuds/fruit_loops
Summary: Troy worked a very mundane job at Greendale Grande Coffee before he met Abed Nadir. It was love at first sight. Or love at first "special drink".
Relationships: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 13
Kudos: 68





	The Study of Special Drink

**Author's Note:**

> IS THIS A LEGITIMATE COFFEE SHOP AU? I SPECIFICALLY TOLD MYSELF I WASN'T GOING TO DO THIS AND I DID IT ANYWAY??? NO???? okay, but the lack of AUs in the fandom is criminal, especially the coffee shop AU. someone had to step up and do it. trust me, i didnt want to do it either. also yes i need to update the other fic im working on it. im just a lover of AUs at this point. we also need more britta i love her. also the entire setting is the coffee shop, like it rarely leaves the coffee shop. is this a creative decision or am i just too lazy to write another setting? we'll never know. anyway, i hope you enjoy this legitimate coffee shop au have fun!

_“This is the fifth time he’s been in this coffee shop in the last week.”_ Troy thought as he took his rag and started cleaning the wooden countertop. He was doing kind of a bad job as he couldn’t stop staring at the man typing away on his laptop in the corner booth. His eyebrows were furrowed and his fingers were moving at lightning speed, typing away furiously on an essay? A novel? Troy desperately wanted to know. 

It’s been a month since Troy first saw him. Hiding behind his laptop, he would sit in the corner booth farthest away from the action (well as much action as you could have in a coffee shop) and would always order the same thing: a cold hot chocolate.

Troy loved to watch him and his facial expressions, which weren’t a lot, unless you knew what to look for. After hours and weeks of staring at him, Troy liked to think he knew how to read his expressions very well. The slight crease in his eyebrows meant he wasn’t satisfied with his work, which would then be followed by him aggressively pressing the backspace key.

Troy was proud whenever he was able to decipher his mood like that.

He would, four days out of seven, come into the shop at 7:30 p.m, order the same drink, type on his laptop for several hours, and then leave before closing time at 11:30 p.m.

Every time he would walk into the shop, Troy’s heart would beat a little quicker and the tapping of his feet would get more erratic. Which was dumb, because Troy knew exactly when he was coming.

It was probably because the man was also the perfect mix of adorable and stunning. That was probably it.

It was Troy’s first year at _Greendale Grande Coffee_ , which was right next to the strip club and an alley popular among drug dealers. So it wasn’t the best. 

He took the low-paying job to pay for his rent on a shitty apartment at the top of Dildopolis. But, based on the angry Chinese man that would come into the shop, slip on a pool of coffee he purposely spilled, and then try to sue the place, saying the job sucked was an understatement.

The one thing that made it better was his co-worker Britta Perry, and more frequently, the mysterious man that came into the shop almost every day.

He was an enigma, a piece of a puzzle Troy was trying desperately to solve. It wasn’t working that well, seeing as the only thing the man did was type on his laptop and Troy was already terrible at observations to begin with.

Troy sighed as he rested his chin in the palm of his hand. This was going nowhere. _Maybe I should just walk up to him? No, that’s weird. Even weirder than just staring at him from afar?_ An internal battle was gripping him, with two sides fighting for control, and it was not going well. A sigh escaped his mouth again as his shoulders sagged and his head tilted in that familiar way he saw the man do in the corner booth.

“Are you okay?” Britta said, making her way to the countertop next to Troy. “That was like the third time I saw you sigh in the past five minutes.”

Troy jerked his head up, quickly standing and dusting the cookie crumbs off his apron. “What? Oh, uh yeah I’m fine.”

“You don’t seem fine.” Britta replied with a smirk, clearly glancing at the man in the corner booth. “Just walk up to him! I, for one, am proud of your newfound discoveries as a gay man.”

“Ugh, Britta you’re the worst.” Troy smiled and playfully hit her arm. He thought it was going to be weird, you know, working with your ex, but Britta was still an awesome person to hang out with even after he told her that he was gay. He loved her, but not in that way. Plus, she was an awesome wingwoman.

“I’m serious! It’s been like a month. Just talk to him or else I’m going to.”

“No way! I can’t just walk up to him! What do you want me to say? ‘Hey my name is Troy and I’ve been staring at you every time you come into the coffee shop please date me?’ NO.” Troy shot back, a bit too loudly. 

Britta threw back her head and chortled, clearly laughing at Troy’s hopeless situation. “Exactly!”

Troy sighed again and went back to staring at the man in the corner booth, before quickly turning away when he saw him staring back at him, with his head tilted and a quizzical expression on his face.

“Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.” Troy exclaimed, walking robotically back to the kitchen to ~~hide~~ bake more muffins. 

“What?” Britta replied, looking back at Troy with a confused expression plastered on her face.

“I think he saw me.” Troy hissed at Britta from behind the swinging kitchen door.

Britta just cackled even more, her hands covering her mouth, trying to suppress a very obvious laugh.

“You’re the worst.”

\--

Troy knew he was fucked as he pushed open the kitchen door the next morning. Because right there, as soon he walked out of the kitchen with a tray of fresh sandwiches, was the man from the corner booth, sitting at the coffee counter, typing away on his laptop. 

Not only was it not 7:30 p.m. but six in the morning, but he was also sitting right in front of the counter top. The place Troy resided where he could safely watch the man from a distance, hiding behind the large display case of cupcakes. Not anymore, apparently. 

Troy almost dropped the tray from shock alone.

“Hello. Can I get a cold hot chocolate?” The man asked, his eyes breaking away from the computer screen and looking at Troy. And _oh, wow he has really beautiful eyes._ The softest shade of brown Troy has ever seen. 

And then Troy dropped the tray.

The man flinched when the metal tray hit the floor and the sandwiches splattered all over the maroon tile.

“Do you need help?” He asked, peering over the counter and watching Troy frantically pick up all the pieces of lettuce and tomato off the ground.

“No, no, I’m good, thank you though!” Troy shouted from off the floor, glaring at a cackling Britta making a coffee for another customer.

“Oh, um. Okay.” He replied before his attention returned to his computer screen.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, that was so embarrassing.” Troy muttered from under his breath, his eyes as wide as saucers. He quickly cleaned up the rest of the sandwiches from off the floor and made his way back into the kitchen.

He dumped them into the large trash can near the back exit as the door caught his eye. _Maybe I can just leave. Change my name into Butts Carlton and sail the world and never come back._

“Troy!” Britta yelled, with only her head peeking out from the behind the kitchen door. “The guy is waiting for you to take his order!” A wide smile was plastered on her face and her fingers were excitedly tapping the door.

“Are you serious?! You take it! I can’t go back out there!”

“He asked you to do it!” She excitedly exclaimed, her hands tapping even more furiously against the door. “Dude! This is your rom-com moment come true! Take his order and get married in front of a church or in a park or drunk in Vegas or something! C’mon!”

Troy rolled his eyes and slumped his shoulders before walking out of the kitchen. His love for Nancy Meyers movies won out. He carefully pushed the door open and pulled out his notepad, ready to take the man’s order.

“You want a cold hot chocolate?” Troy asked, hiding his face behind the very tiny notepad.

“Yes please.”

“Coming right up.” He added, quite feebly, before walking over to the coffee station behind the counter and pouring a cup of cold milk and adding hot chocolate powder. He saw Britta give him a wink from the corner of his eye and the butterflies in his stomach increased 10 fold.

“Here.” Troy placed the cup right in front of him before briskly walking away, wanting to get out of the situation as fast as humanly possible.

“Wait.” Troy abruptly stopped and turned his head. “I have to pay you.”

“Oh, you can keep it. On the house.” Troy added, desperately praying to get out this conversation so he doesn’t embarrass himself any further.

“Why?”

“Well, because, um, you know, you’ve been coming here for a while and we, here at _Greendale Grande Coffee_ , wanted to thank you. For that.” _Really smooth, Troy._

“Is that a real rule?”

“Definitely.”

“Oh. Uh, Thank you…”

“Troy.”

“Abed.”

 _Abed_. That was his name. The man in the corner booth had an identity. Well, he wasn’t in the corner booth anymore, but you get the idea. Troy was one step closer to solving the puzzle. And it was a very nice name too. Troy gave him a small smile, that slowly formed into a grin when he saw Abed return that small smile as well.

 _Abed. Abed. Abed. Abed._ Troy repeated the name like a mantra, never wanting to forget it. 

\--

Abed came back the same time the next day, sitting at the same spot in front of the coffee counter and ringing Troy for another cold hot chocolate.

Troy obliged, filling up a Greendale coffee cup with cold milk and pouring chocolate powder into it. He walked back to the counter, and wordlessly handed Abed his cup of, essentially, chocolate milk. 

Abed looked up at him and accepted the cup, before digging around in his pocket for the $1.59 + tip. 

“Here.” Abed said, holding out the money in the palm of his hand for Troy to take.

Troy, paralyzed with fear and still as a statue, stood there, staring at the money in his palm. His mouth was open to say something and Abed tilted his head, waiting to hear what Troy had to say. When nothing came out, Abed just put the money on the counter.

Troy suddenly swiped at the money and quickly put it into the cash register before briskly jogging away, his cheeks going scarlet red.

“Britta! This isn’t working. I need you to take over.” 

“What are you talking about? I just saw you stand still and say nothing when he tried to give you money. You are clearly doing amazing.” Britta replied, the playful smile visible on her face.

“I’m serious! I am going to scare him away. I just need you to take me away from him.”

“No way. This is the most fun I’ve had at this job in three years.”

Troy audibly groaned, causing Abed to perk his head up from the laptop. Troy’s cheeks burned an even deeper shade from embarrassment, inciting a louder laugh from Britta.

\--

“You’re staring again.” 

“What?” Troy lifted his head up from the palm of his hand and looked at Abed with an absolute look of horror on his face. “No, I’m not!”

Okay, the truth is he was, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to willingly admit that. He stood tall and puffed out his chest, trying to intimidate Abed into magically taking back the words from his mouth. With a stern look on his face that contrasted the millions of tiny Troys in his head freaking out and starting fires, he put up his hand and was about to say something before he was cut off.

“You can keep staring. I don’t mind.”

Troy’s hand dropped as the stern look was completely replaced with a smaller, curious one. Abed dropped his gaze and went back to typing on his computer.

\--

Abed was there at 6:00 a.m. for the ninth day in a row (not like Troy was keeping track), asking him for another cold hot chocolate.

“I don’t want to overstep here, but why? What even is a cold hot chocolate?”

“I call it a ‘special drink’.” Abed replied, his hands splaying out in front of him, but his eyes unmoving from the computer screen. “You should try it. You’re gonna like it.”

So when Troy brought Abed his “special drink”, Troy brought out a cup for himself. 

“Now we have to try it at the same time.” Abed said, his lips curving at the end of his mouth and his eyes wide in anticipation. “Are you ready?”

“To try chocolate milk? Yes.” Troy said, a hint of sarcasm dripping his voice.

“I can’t tell if that’s sarcasm or not but I love it anyway.”

They both lifted their _Greendale Grande Coffee_ cups at the same time, and took a large sip. 

“Damn! This is amazing! Why is this so good, this is just glorified chocolate milk?”

“It’s the magic of ‘special drink’.” Abed replied, lifting his hands to the same level of his wide smile. “I told you, I knew you would love it.”

“How did you know I would love it?”

“Well, you have a huge sweet tooth. Sometimes I catch you sneaking the old cupcakes from the display case and eating them when you think no one is looking.”

“But, you’re looking.” Troy replied. A sheepish smile growing on his face.

“But, I’m looking.” A shade of pink was pooling at the base of Abed’s cheeks as he lowered his gaze back down to the computer screen and went back to typing.

Troy couldn’t help the large smile (and the chocolate mustache) on his face after that.

\-- 

“You’ve been coming here, at six a.m. for three weeks in a row.”

“Do you have a problem with that?” Abed tilted his head.

“No, no! Not at all! But you used to come for only a few days a week.” It was Troy’s turn to tilt his head.

Troy could see Abed trying and failing to suppress a smile. “What can I say? I guess I just really really like the ‘glorified chocolate milk’.” 

\--

“What’s your favorite movie?” Troy looked up from drawing doodles in his notepad. He took a sip from his cup of “special drink”.

“My favorite movie?” Troy asked. He’s gotten more familiar with Abed over the past month, so of course he knew what a movie buff he was. Troy saw the way his eyes would light up whenever they were talking about his favorite scene of _Kickupuncher_ , or the way his eyebrows would scrunch whenever _the Phantom Menace_ came up in a conversation (which Troy tried to mention as little as possible). Either way, movies were a very sensitive topic. “Probably, _the Lion King_.”

Abed’s eyes widened, clearly surprised at the answer being given to him.

“It came out when I was young and it makes me feel really nosalg-- nuslagic-- nostag. Remember-y.”

Abed nodded, taking in Troy’s answer and compartmentalizing it in the _Troy_ drawer in his brain. Which was actually quite large, due in part to Troy’s rambling whenever he got nervous, which Abed noted, was a lot. Especially when Troy was around him.

“Plus, it reminds me of that one scene where Constable Reggie defeated his grandson and left him to die with the Blorgons.”

Abed’s eyes grew larger. “You watched _Inspector Spacetime_?”

“Yeah, you kept talking about it and I-uh wanted to talk more about it with you.” Troy added sheepishly.

Abed lowered his gaze and hid behind his computer screen, making sure Troy didn’t see the blush forming on his cheeks.

\--

It had been almost three months of talking since Abed moved from the back of the booth to the coffee counter and Troy still knew practically nothing about him.

Sure he knew that Abed was in love with Batman and that the _Phantom Menace_ almost single-handedly destroyed the Star Wars trilogy, but nothing too serious. Which was normal considering Troy had never seen Abed outside of the coffee shop setting, but it still bummed him out incredibly. Also, Troy was quite literally head over heels in love with him but that was a different problem entirely.

So of course, feeling bold and brave (and a little tipsy), Troy bought two tickets to see a movie in the theater. For a date. A real life, not in the coffee shop, date. Troy was practically bouncing off the walls when he went into work in the morning, excited at the prospect of going on a real life date with Abed.

Of course there was always the possibility that Abed would say no, but Troy shoved that part of his brain way deep down.

“Someone seems chipper this morning.” Britta commented, pouring a fresh cup of black coffee for herself from the coffee maker.

“Are you supposed to be doing that?”

“Eh, it’s Greendale. They don’t care.”

“I think it’s the opposite. They probably care too much.”

Britta chortled and downed her mug. “Want some?”

“I’m good, thanks.”

“You seem on edge. Are you okay? Are you waiting for your _boyfriend_?”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Yet.”

“Hopefully.” Troy added, crossing his fingers while the tapping of his feet became more erratic as each second passed by.

They were both startled when the bell at the front of the door chimed, signaling someone’s arrival into the coffee shop. Troy sharply looked up and saw Abed in a black overcoat and dark blue cigarette jeans. This shouldn’t have felt different from all the other times Abed walked into the door, but it did. Troy was vibrating with ~~fear~~ excitement as he watched him make his way to his spot at the front of the coffee counter.

Troy walked out of the kitchen and wordlessly handed him his Special Drink and two tickets for the new Kickpuncher movie tomorrow night. Granted, he should have bought something a little more romantic than a movie about a cyborg, but he was drunk so don’t blame him.

“What’s this?” Abed looked up at him with a curious smile and, Troy swore, a twinkle in his eyes.

“Do you want to watch the new Kickpuncher movie with me?” Troy exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of his heels.

“With Don ‘The Demon’ Donaldson? Yes.” Abed shot Troy his finger guns before taking the tickets in his hands and examining it. “Should I meet you there?”

“Well, uh, I could pick you up and we could get dinner beforehand.”

“Cool. Cool, cool, cool.” A small smile was painted on Abed’s face and he couldn’t stop tapping the counter.

“Awesome.” Troy’s eyes grew wide and a huge smile was fixed on his face. They stared at each other for what felt like hours before Britta nudged Troy who seemed to be frozen in place.

“Hey Abed.”

“Hi Britta.” Abed gave a little wave to Britta who he had also gotten close to over the past couple of months. Despite her not-so subtly trying to therapize him, Abed had considered Britta a good friend as well. Not as good of a friend as Troy, but close.

“Okay, so I’ll uh see you tomorrow night?”

“It’s six a.m, Troy. You’re only taking that girl’s order.”

“Oh right.” Troy elbowed Britta in the arm and gave her a side-eye before taking out his notepad and walking over to the other customer.

“Sorry Abed, he’s very excited.”

\--

Troy could barely sleep last night, his head racing with thoughts and ideas. He felt like he was going to quite literally explode, which was bad because his rent insurance was probably going to increase. It didn’t help that Didlopolis was having another sale and they were broadcasting it to the street for four straight fucking hours. So it was safe to say that he didn’t have the best night.

“You look like shit.”

“Thank you so much for that, Britta.” She laughed and downed another cup of coffee from Greendale’s coffee maker.

“What happened?” 

“I barely slept at all last night.”

“Ahh, I get it. Wink Wink.” _Did Britta just actually say wink wink?_ “So, you and Abed went home together last night?”

“Ew, no Britta. I just couldn’t sleep. I was too excited about the movie.”

“The date? Awwwwww, that’s adorable.” Britta clasped her hands together and started puckering her lips and making kissing noises. “Wait.” She brought down her hands and furrowed her eyebrows. “It is a date right? Did you say it was a date? Does he know it’s a date?”

Troy froze and started racking his brain, seeing if he mentioned the word date at all yesterday. “Oh my god, I didn’t say it was a date. But, I-I told him we were getting dinner beforehand. I mean, that makes it sound like it’s a date?” He grabbed her arms and started violently shaking her. “RIGHT? BRITTA, HE KNOWS, RIGHT?”

At that moment, the bell rang again and they both snapped their heads up. There was Abed, and _oh. A girl._

“uh-oh.” 

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean anything, right, Britta? I mean we’re friends and we’re both male and female and yes we did date but that doesn’t mean anything and look they’re both laughing, they’re friends and oh, he’s touching her lower waist and oh, she just kissed his cheek and yep I’m going to be sick.” Troy let go of Britta and shoved the kitchen door forward. From inside the kitchen he could faintly hear Britta’s voice, welcoming, but fake, hiding a sharp tone underneath.

He slid down the door and held his head in between his legs, letting the sounds go mute around him and the tears falling freely down his face.

A small part of him knew it was a little bit his fault for not clarifying whether it was a date or not, but he didn’t care. He let himself get too enveloped in the high of his emotions, and didn’t even realize that it started choking him. Laughter-filled conversations and made-up scenarios at night left Troy defenseless against the true enemy: his heart. _I should have seen this coming. No, I should have made a move weeks ago. You’re an idiot. Why do you think he would ever go out with someone like you? You have to calm down, breathe in and breathe out._ All of these thoughts were invading Troy’s head, clouding his judgement.

_I need to get out of here._

He stood up, his legs feeling like jelly and his heart feeling like shit before falling again. His head was pounding and he slammed his hand against the metal table to keep his balance. He made his way to the exit at the back of the kitchen, before looking back at the window in the door and catching a glimpse of Abed. He was smiling at the girl next to him, before he sharply turned his gaze up, staring at Troy from behind the counter and behind the kitchen entrance. Troy only saw a glimpse of his confused eyes before he pushed open the door of the exit and left the coffee shop.

\--

“Where did Troy go?” Abed tilted his head and played with one of the buttons on his coat. “Why did he leave like that?” 

“Well, you would know, Mr. Heart-Broker-- Breaker.” Britta shot back. Abed lifted one of his eyebrows. “I’m not good at this and you know that.”

“Ohhhh, is this Britta? The blonde therapy one who’s bad at comebacks?”

“Yes, I am. And who would you be **Mrs**. Heartbreaker?” Britta put her hands on her waist and scrunched her eyebrows, trying to look stern but instead looking like an angry 6-year old.

“My name is Annie. I’m a friend of Abed’s.”

“Oh I bet you are, _Annie_.” Annie, taken aback, huffed and crossed her arms.

“I thought you said she was nice, Abed. And where’s Troy? You keep talking about him like he’s Harrison Ford himself.”

“Yeah, where is Troy, Abed? I thought you guys were going on a date later today! And then you bring _her_ in?” He turned to Annie. “I’m a righteous feminist and I lived in New York, but even I think that you are the worst person I’ve ever met.”

“You barely know me!”

“It was a date?” Abed asked, his eyes wide and his lips curved upward.

“Yeah-- yeah, it was.” Britta faltered, registering Abed’s faraway smile on his face. “Wait, did you want it to be a date?”

Abed nodded rapidly.

“Then who is she?”

“This is my best friend, Annie. She lives in Virginia, but she was visiting me for the week. She just came in yesterday night. I thought Troy would like to meet her, seeing as though she’s very important to me.”

“Awwwwwwww” Annie cooed, clasping her hands as a blush creeped up her cheeks.

“Wait, so you guys are just friends?”

“Yeah. I’m a lesbian.”

“Oh. You don’t look like a lesbian.”

“What do you think a lesbian looks like?”

“You know…” Britta took her hair in her hands and started mimicking cutting it. “Like, Ellen.”

“Well um-- I’m a lesbian.”

“That’s cool. Awesome, in fact. You know I dated a gay guy so, we’re on the same level.”

Beat of silence.

“Oh look, a customer! Better take their order!” Britta (too) loudly exclaimed as she ran towards the woman that had just walked into the shop.

“I’m sorry about her, Annie”

\--

Troy wanted to take another day off from work, but Britta wouldn’t quit knocking on his door until he opened it. He groggily checked the time and groaned when it read 5:00 a.m.

“I don’t want to go to work today!” He cried as he opened the door and then flopped back onto his bed, making a huge creaking noise. 

“Yes you do!”

“No. I don’t.”

“Trust me, you do!”

“Last time I trusted you you lit the toaster on fire.”

“Okay, yeah but you can trust me on this!”

She grabbed his arm and pulled him from beneath the sheets, leaving him to sit on the bed in nothing but a tank top and Spider-man boxers. He rubbed the back of neck and closed his eyes, before taking a deep breath. “I really don’t want to see him today. Please don’t make me do this.”

Britta sighed, before reaching for his hands from behind his neck and holding it in her palms. “I’m sorry for what happened, Troy. But trust me, you’re going to want to see him. I promise. I wouldn’t do this to you unless I knew you weren’t going to get hurt.”

“I really don't want to go." His pleading eyes bore into Britta's.

"I promise, I'm not gonna hurt you."

Troy took a deep breath. "Okay, I’ll go to work today.”

Britta gave him a beaming smile and stood up, putting her hands on her hips. “Great!” She looked him up and down. “You’re not going like that though. Get changed and meet me in front of Dildopolis in twenty minutes.”

She wrapped him in a chaste hug and ran downstairs, but Troy knew what it really meant. Britta was okay with sex and making out, but hugs and good morning kisses weren’t really her forte. A light jab on his arm was probably the most affectionate Britta was. So even a quick hug meant millions of unspoken words between the two. And with that fact, Troy smiled and got up, putting on his clothes for the day.

\--

Abed usually walked to the coffee shop. It was only two blocks away from his house. He used to go to City College Coffee, which was a shorter distance, but the lighting made him feel dizzy so he resigned to walking to _Greendale Grande Coffee_ instead. 

It was brisk Sunday morning at 5:48, so the streets were practically empty minus a few cars speeding through the streets. The wind was whipping his face and his hands were shaking from the cold, but he was so filled with excitement that he couldn’t even feel the 43 degree weather. He couldn’t contain the smile on his face at the prospect of going to _Greendale Grande Coffee_ again.

He had grown to love the coffee shop and its cozy environment that made him feel at home for the first time in years. Maybe it was the smell of coffee and chocolate muffins, or maybe it was the warm aura that the dark walls and bright sconces gave off that made this place so attractive to him. He loved the place, even the stains on the couch and terrible wifi. He loved how it always smelled like chocolate and how it was always there for him whenever he needed it. He loved its bright eyes and smile, _oh god that smile_ , and how it didn’t mind listening to him talk about _the Phantom Menace_ for two hours.

He didn’t mean to grow so attached to Troy. It happened completely by accident, but he wouldn’t trade it for anything. Loving Troy came easy to Abed. There was this layer of kindness and softness to Troy that was so welcoming towards him that he couldn’t not fall in love with him. 

The first time Abed went into _Greendale Grande Coffee_ , he settled into a small corner booth at the edge of the shop and made himself at home. It was a long walk and an even longer day of working on his new TV show, _Woodsen Street_ , a sitcom about a group of friends trying to navigate their life. It wasn’t the most creative show, but Abed loved working on it, inputting new ideas and getting to choose his schedule. (So naturally, he chose the schedule where he could come in later, allowing him to spend more time with Troy.) He opened up his laptop and started working on the newest script. The executives were ordering a love interest be made for the main character of the show, Andrew, and Abed was having writer’s block. His eyebrows were furrowed and his back was hunched over after hours of working on the new script. He was furiously deleting words and revising sentences when a loud laugh caught his attention.

He glanced up, only to find one of the employees of the coffee shop handing a six-year old girl in a party hat a cupcake. 

“How much money is it?” The mother asked him, searching through her purse trying to piece together enough change to buy her daughter the cupcake for her birthday.

“It’s okay. It’s on the house.”

“Oh my god, are you sure?”

“Yeah.” He gave off a beaming smile and threw his head back to laugh when the young girl squealed in excitement. “It’s your birthday! Happy birthday!”

Abed couldn't stop staring at the man behind the counter, with his kind eyes and sweet smile. The man suddenly turned his gaze to the right and made eye contact with Abed, before quickly blushing and looking back down at the countertop. A lightbulb went off in his head as he started rapidly typing away on his computer.

Back in the present, Abed pushed open the door, its jingling bells ringing throughout the entire shop. He flinched when he heard it --he always hated that sound-- before smiling when he saw Troy. He made his way to his spot in front of the counter, settling down and pulling his laptop from out of his bag.

“Hey.” Troy sheepishly said, waving his hand and handing him his “special drink”.

“Hi.”

A beat of silence.

“Are you dating the girl you brought yesterday?” “I’m not dating Annie.” They both said it at the same time, in one quick breath. Troy sighed, like a big burden had been lifted off of his shoulders, before breaking out into a huge smile. “You’re not?”

“I’m not.” Abed replied, reciprocating Troy’s smile.

“I’m sorry for what happened yesterday. For bailing on the movie and because Britta told me you really wanted me to meet her. I shouldn’t have just automatically assumed you guys were dating. That’s on me.”

“It’s okay, I know the misunderstanding trope was bound to happen. Especially in fanfiction.”

“What?”

“What?”

“Uh, anyway, sorry again for what happened.” Troy began rubbing the back of his neck and averted his gaze from Abed. “Do you still want to watch a movie with me today?”

“Okay, that sounds great.” Abed began to return his gaze to the computer, typing on his keyboard.

Troy furrowed his eyebrows. “I just realized. In our entire three months of friendship, I’ve never asked you what you were writing? What are you writing?”

Abed broke out into a wide smile, before turning his computer around and letting Troy read the several pages of a script he wrote in the four months of being in the coffee shop.

“Andrew Norris’s and Theo Baker’s Coffee Shop Romance?” Troy read out loud the title, confused as to where this was going.

“I know, my titles are very descriptive. This is my character’s love story. As you know, I work on the TV show _Woodsen Street_ , and I’ve been trying to write a love story for the character Andrew for months. I didn’t realize that I could just write down what was happening between us.”

Troy’s eyes scanned down the pages of writing. It was all the interactions that happened between him and Abed. From the stolen glances before they officially met to the long conversations of movies and inane hypotheticals. “Are you Andrew Norris?”

Abed nodded his head.

“And am I Theo Baker?” Abed’s lips curved upward.

Troy’s mouth opened, taken aback by what he was reading, before it broke into a beaming smile. He set down the laptop and leaned across the counter, until his face was right in front of Abed’s. So close Troy wondered if he could hear the rapid beating of his heart. Troy gently placed his hand on the side of Abed’s face, looking him into his eyes. _They really are beautiful._ “Can I kiss you?” Troy was practically whispering it into his lips. 

“Please do.” 

Their lips crashed into one another, holding all the unspoken exchanges and lingering looks between them from the past months. Abed’s lips were warm against his. It tasted like chocolate. Abed couldn’t help but smile, causing Troy to smile too. Laughter rang throughout the coffee shop, coming from the two still wrapped around one another over the counter, their hands tangled in each other’s hair.

“We should have been doing this a lot sooner.” Troy breathlessly exclaimed, pressing his forehead against Abed’s.

“I like the story we’ve created here.” He replied, before quickly catching Troy in another kiss.

  
  
  


**Epilogue:**

“Honey, look!” Troy exclaimed from the couch, waving his hand to call his husband from the kitchen. “Andrew and Theo were named the couple of the year by Metro Entertainment! I told you they would win.”

Abed walked over to the living room pressing a kiss to Troy’s cheek. “I guess everyone liked our love story as much as we did.” 

“Who doesn’t?” Troy giggled, fisting Abed’s shirt and pulling him in for a deeper kiss. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

**Author's Note:**

> still cant believe i wrote a coffee shop au. thanks for reading though ur the best!


End file.
